Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, Tzena Don't you know that you're the darling of the regiment? Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, All the soldiers want to see you, why don't you consent? See the handsome soldiers gaily riding Come out from wherever you are hiding Won't you smile a little for the colonel Throw some kisses to the rest Tzena, Tzena, Bashful little Tzena Please don't be afraid of all the soldier boys, for Tzena, Tzena, All the boys adore you Calling for you Tzena, Tzena, Tzena,

Thanks, Gene, I had not heard that version before. Curiously enough, it is a faithful translation of the Hebrew. Most people are surprised, even shocked, when they discover that Tzena is a song that encourages girls to welcome the advances of soldiers. In fact, why don't I just offer the original, and its translation:

Tzena Words adapted from a text by Y. Hagiz; Music by Issachar Miron and Julius Grossman

No, my Weavers cut is also the Hebrew, as cited by Craig - right down to the "Tzena! (21x)." But I did find the English they used somewhere else:

Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, Can't you hear the music playing in the village square? Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, Can't you hear the music playing in the village square? Tzena, Tzena, join the celebration. There'll be people there from every nation. Dawn will find us dancing in the sunlight, Dancing in the village square.

Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, can't you hear the music playing In the village square? Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, can't you hear the trumpets sounding In the village square? Tzena, Tzena, join the celebration, There'll be people there from every nation, Dawn will find us dancing in the sunlight, Dancing in the village square

"Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, Can't you hear the music playing In the village square? Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, Come where all your friends will find us. There'll be dancing there. Tzena, Tzena, join the celebration. There'll be people there from every nation. Dawn will find us laughing in the sunlight, Dancing in the village square."

Tzena, Tzena, Come and dance the hora, One, two, three, four, All the boys will envy me for Tzena, Tzena, When the band is playing, My heart's saying 'Tzena, Tzena, Tzena!'"

Genie

PS, I see that I missed them above because they were in paragraph form without the line breaks. But since I've formatted them with the breaks, I thought I'd go ahead and post them.

Now that I've posted the Weavers' English lyrics, I notice that there was a mistake in the earlier posting of those lyrics. The ones I posted are correct (except, possibly, for the words "laughing in the sunlight" vs. "dancing in the sunlight"). Seems to be it's "laughing," since the next line repeats the word "dancing." (I don't recall that many "dancing"s in the song.) I'll check my Weavers songbook and tapes.

The original Hebrew and translated English versions by The Weavers make for an interesting contrast. When they sang in Hebrew, a language that was not widely spoken outside of Israel or diaspora synagogues in the late-forties and early-fifties, they sang the original version of the song, which celebrated the 1948 military victory of the overwhelmed little army of the new country of Israel over the combined forces of seven Arab countries. But when the Weavers did a version in English, a language that their audience understood, the soldiers were censored out of the song.

Tzena of course isn't a name, its literally go out. The context is encouraging the girls to find a good companion, one that is valiant and productive (Marxist sort of society after all), can work the fields and protect the land, etc. Not an act of mere wantonness.

Could you tell me where did you learn this song in English? Is it a Jewish school? When did you use to sing this song? Do you sing this song to-day on any occasion? If yes, when? I am making a research on this song and it is very interesting. I will appreciate very much your answer.

I would like to know where did GUEST Mrr learned this song in English. Was it in a jewish school? May be someone else can tell me wher they teach this song? Is this song being tought now in school? in what grades? In Jewish schhol? Is this song still sung to-day? If yes, where and when? I will appreciate all the information I can get on this song

I am in Spokane,Washington, USA. I grew up here and learned the variation of "go into the fields and we'll begin to work the land" ... when I was in grade school in about 1970. I've no idea why a public school music teacher was teaching us that song, but it sure stuck with me through all these years.

I learned this song as a member of a public school chorus in 1957. We sang it for a music presentation, probably in the spring. Unfortunately I do not remember the teacher's name. Nor do I know why we learned this song. It impacted me so much so that I remember the entire melody. I appreciate all the above input re:Tzena, Tzena

I learned singing this song and melody song in the 60's in elementary school. Like some have have said, the words and melody have stuck with me all these years. I only remembered the Tzena Tzena building a new nation toiling busily all day. Soon we'll dance and have a celebration but first we'll work and then we'll play. La la la la la La la la La, repeat la again then la la la la laaaaaa. And everyone else in docent groups was repeating this in different phrases, similar to the row your boat procedure with more groups. So cool! Just wish I could find the music melody part for review. An interesting memory.